Moonflower Grows Up
by Briarpaw
Summary: This story will detail the upbringing of Bluestar's wonderful mom. It will also help explain how her brother turned out to be such an enigma.
1. Chapter 1

**Moonflower grows up.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own warriors but I do own Dapplestar, Raindrops, Specklepelt, Mousetail, Hollyclaw, Badgerpatch, Ratpelt, Yellowfur, Cinderpaw, Flowerkit, Graystorm, Peacheye, Hustlefoot, Fernstripe and Snowstorm. I don't even own Mudsplash because he is Mumblefoot before an injury didn't heal properly and he retired and changed his name. But I do own the name, which is neat, I think.**

**I'll name every cat in ThunderClan every four instalments in the story. I won't bother with other Clans because that gets too complicated. I'll just mention individual cats when it comes up. **

**ThunderClan**

**Leader**: Dapplestar-Tortoiseshell she-cat with white star on her forehead

**Deputy**: Raindrops-blue-gray speckled tom

**Medicine cat**: Specklepelt-brown tabby tom

**Warriors**: Mousetail-gray tom with brown underbelly

Apprentice, Stonepaw

Sweetbriar-tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat

Hollyclaw-black she-cat with pale yellow eyes

Apprentice, Stormpaw

Badgerpatch-black-and-white tom

Apprentice, Adderpaw

Ratpelt-dark gray-and-brown tom

Yellowfur-pale orange she-cat

Mudsplash-brown tom

Apprentice, Robinpaw

Weedwhisker-pale orange tom

Pinestripe-red brown tom with green eyes

Poppydawn-long-haired dark red she-cat with a bushy tail

Apprentice, Cinderpaw

Tawnyspots-light gray tabby tom

Fuzzypelt-black tom with fur that sticks out at all angles

**Apprentices**: Stonepaw-gray tom

Adderpaw-mottled brown tabby tom

Stormpaw-blue-gray tom

Robinpaw-small, energetic brown she-cat with ginger patch on her chest

Cinderpaw-gray-and-black she-cat

**Queens**: Larksong-tortoiseshell she-cat with pale green eyes (mother of Mousetail's kits, Swiftkit and Flowerkit)

Graystorm-dark gray she-cat with amber eyes (mother of Ratpelt's kits, Moonkit and Goosekit)

Peacheye-light brown tabby she-cat with unusual eyes, in disgrace for mating with a WindClan cat

**Elders**: Hustlefoot-dark brown tabby tom

Fernstripe-pale gray tabby she-cat with a white triangle on her chest and white bands on her legs and tail

Snowstorm-once white, now grayish, she-cat, the oldest cat in ThunderClan by far, more than twelve years old

Moonkit was in the nursery, trying to sleep when Goosekit nudged her, hard, trying to wake her up. "Mother's gone!" He hissed.

Moonkit's impatience with her brother disappeared immediately. She got unsteadily to her feet and followed him out of the nursery, which was now deserted except for Moonkit and her brother. The kits had only been born a few sunrises ago and were still getting oriented as to how the camp worked. Moonkit glanced through the branch wall of the nursery. The clearing loomed in her face: full of cats, all of them larger than her and many of them milling about from one den to the other.

Moonkit stepped back, overwhelmed, but she forced herself to be brave. She poked her nose through the side of the den and tried to locate her mother by smell. Beside her, Goosekit did the same thing. She couldn't smell Graystorm but she did smell another familiar cat. Here was someone who slept in the nursery.

This cat was a brown tabby, a common enough colour, but she had eyes that Moonkit would recognize anywhere. They were pale orangish-red, almost pink. None of the other cats had eyes like this and Moonkit, young as she was, knew this already.

This cat was talking to a blue-gray tom and he seemed to be the dominant one in the conversation. As he stalked away and the she-cat held her head down, Moonkit and Goosekit wandered out of the nursery and crept towards her.

"That's Peacheye," said a voice from behind the two kits. "She annoyed Raindrops by accusing him of favouring the other queens when he organized the apprentices' hunting." Moonkit spun around to see a tom twice her size. He was a similar blue-gray colour to the tom they had seen talking to the nursery cat but, unlike Raindrops, he didn't have speckles on his pelt, which was all gray.

"Who are you?" Goosekit asked, giving the cat a look.

"Stormpaw," said the tom importantly. "The deputy's son. That's my brother." He pointed at a tree stump in another corner of the clearing. "Adderpaw."

Moonkit looked. She could see a brown mottled tom chatting with a wiry brown she-cat. Suddenly, she saw the she-cat pounce playfully on the tom, who wriggled away and dashed towards them with the she-cat in pursuit.

"Why would he favour the other queens?" asked Goosekit.

"Don't you know?" asked Adderpaw, coming to a stop next to the kits. "Her mate was a _WindClan warrior_!" There was disgust in his meow.

The she-cat apprentice skidded to a stop behind him and whacked his flank. "Adderpaw, don't tell them stuff like that! The kits don't need to hear about it!"

"We're old enough!" protested Moonkit, though she had no idea why she needed to be old enough. _What's WindClan? Are there other Clans like ThunderClan?_

Adderpaw butted the older she-cat in the flank. "C'mon, Robinpaw, let's go see how Cinderpaw and Stonepaw are doing in the training hollow."

"Oh no, you don't," a louder voice grumbled. A wiry pure black she-cat with yellow eyes padded up to the apprentices and the kits. "You're needed in the elders' den. Unless you want Snowstorm to get up and get new moss herself."

"But Cinderpaw looked after them this morning!" protested Adderpaw.

"No," the she-cat bore down on him. "Cinderpaw did their ticks. _You_ can replace the moss in their dens. Hurry and start doing something useful. We need every cat to be hard at work this leaf-bare. You and Robinpaw can't just sit around all day."

"Oh well, c'mon Adderpaw," meowed Robinpaw. "We get the not-as-stinky job. And I like talking to Fernstripe and Hustlefoot."

"You should respect _all _of your elders," lectured the black she-cat. "Not just the ones who are easy to get along with. Now go do your chores before the sun goes down. You're wasting daylight." Robinpaw and Adderpaw scampered off. Stormpaw looked uneasily after them as though wondering if he should follow them.

"You go wait at the edge of the camp, Stormpaw," the black cat said. "I'll give you a hunting lesson in a minute so we can bring back some fresh kill for the elders." Stormpaw looked as if he would have liked to have waited for her but he clearly didn't dare disobey. Then the black she-cat turned her attention to the kits. "Gather around," she said to them. "I need to talk to you two."

"Are we in trouble?" asked Moonkit. Goosekit nudged her. "It's about Peacheye. This cat heard us talking about Peacheye. What is WindClan?" He addressed the black warrior.

The she-cat sighed. "WindClan is one of the other three Clans."

"There are four Clans?" Moonkit asked in wonder.

"Don't the queens teach the kits anything these days," the black cat sighed.

"Are you an elder?" asked Goosekit. "You sound like one."

"No, I'm a senior warrior," the black cat answered. "My name is Hollyclaw. Now, don't interrupt. There are four Clans and the first law in the warrior code is loyalty to your own. Every so often there will be a cat that breaks that part of the code and mates with a cat from another Clan. But you must remember that such a thing only brings shame to yourself and makes your kits' lives difficult."

"How come?" asked Moonkit.

"You'll understand...Adderpaw, Stormpaw, back to your duties! Honestly!" Hollyclaw hurried off to reprimand Stormpaw and Adderpaw who were making faces at the kits from behind a rock.

"I was hoping we seemed like smart kits," meowed Goosekit, his eyes hurt.

"Don't you mind them," said another voice. Moonkit and Goosekit turned toward a she-cat they recognized as one of their older denmates. Swiftkit was two and a half moons older than they were but acted as if she were seasons ahead. Her ginger-black-and-white sister, Flowerkit, followed her, thick fluffy tail sticking straight up as usual. "They haven't been apprentices for as long as they act like."

Flowerkit sat straight in front of the other kits and said in a simpering voice, "May I go on the dawn patrol, _Father_? How do you like this fighting move, _Father_? Can I bow at your feet, _Father_?"

Swiftkit shook her head in admonishment but giggled nonetheless. Goosekit chuckled just for appearances sake. Moonkit asked, "Which one?" Already she had seen Flowerkit do exaggerated impressions of her own mother, Larksong, Moonkit's mother Graystorm and Peacheye who didn't have kits yet. She'd thought the impression of Larksong ordering the kits indoors way to early was funny and the imitation of Peacheye bowing her head as Larksong berated her for letting Swiftkit wander off into the medicine den was cruel but accurate but had gotten mad when she imitated Graystorm's tired walk after Goosekit had accidentally bitten her leg too hard. Flowerkit had apologized an hour after Moonkit pointedly turned her back on her denmate and stared into the brambles of the den with her nose pointed upward.

"Both of them," snickered Swiftkit. "Especially Adderpaw though. I don't know how he ever gets around camp with that big, thick head of his."

"Stormpaw puts him up to it," argued Flowerkit. "Adderpaw's the better one."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"I'm gonna tell Adderpaw you _like_ him!"

"Wouldn't you? No, you wouldn't."

"I would so!"

"Can you do a Hollyclaw impression?" asked Moonkit deliberately stepping in between the sisters. "I want to see it."

Flowerkit looked around the clearing warily. "Is she watching? I don't want her to be watching."

"She went hunting with Stormpaw," Goosekit assured his denmate. Clearly he wanted to see Flowerkit's Hollyclaw impression too.

"Well, if you're sure," Flowerkit continued to look around nervously, her tail swishing back and forth like a tree branch in the wind.

Moonkit and Goosekit nodded eagerly.

Flowerkit screwed up her face and said, "Honestly! These kits! No sense! I leave out fresh kill by the nursery and they assume it's put there for them!"

Moonkit and Goosekit doubled over with laughter and even Swiftkit allowed herself a snicker. "Show them the elders, Flowerkit," she commanded.

Flowerkit stumbled as if she had a crippled leg. "Bring me something to eat," she gasped. "Please! I'm gonna run away from the Clan if you don't!"

"Hustlefoot," Swiftkit told the two younger kits. Moonkit and Goosekit nodded. They had not met the elders yet. This _was _educational.

"Of course, dears. I'm gonna clean you until you gasp for mercy!" Flowerkit reached out her tongue to lick Goosekit's ear and he wriggled away in disgust.

"Fernstripe," acknowledged Swiftkit. "She actually does that."

Flowerkit nodded, pleased. "Don't let her get too close. I hate that gushing look on her face."

"Now do Herself, the oldest cat in all the clans," said Swiftkit.

"More than twelve years old," said Flowerkit in a raspy voice as she settled herself on her haunches and wrapped her tail tightly around her body. "And I have yet to see single apprentice who actually managed to climb to the top of the Owl Tree, so you can stop pretending. Especially since many who tried were much stronger and braver than you runts!"

The other kits shrieked with laughter so hard that they didn't notice the gray shape looming over them.

Swiftkit and Flowerkit saw her at the same time. "Snowstorm!" They screamed and ran over to the fresh kill pile to hide behind it. Ratpelt and Yellowfur, sharing fresh kill next to the pile, hissed at them and backed away.

The elderly grayish cat settled herself on the ground in front of the kits. Moonkit was sure she could hear her bones cracking as she settled herself into the _exact same position_ Flowerkit had been in when she'd imitated Snowstorm. Goosekit stifled a giggle.

"I don't see anything funny about me right now," the old she-cat rasped. "Whatever that little pest was saying. Flowerkit's the most insolent kit I have ever known. It's a wonder Dapplestar doesn't put her on permanent tick duty. I would just purr."

"Are you really more than twelve years old?" asked Goosekit. "That's pretty cool."

"Glad to hear that someone thinks so," rasped Snowstorm. "Flowerkit and Swiftkit just mock it."

"Have you seen our mother?" Moonkit asked, remembering suddenly why she and her brother had left the nursery.

"Sure, dear," Snowstorm replied. "She's over there, sharing prey with Dapplestar."

**This is how I imagine Goosefeather as a kit, before StarClan...decided he would be the medicine cat to utter all the crazy-sounding prophecies. Before he became almost the Cassandra of the clans. It will happen. You can count on it. **

**And out in the wild, a twelve-year-old cat would be a rare thing indeed. Most feral cats have a lifespan of only half that. Or so according to Wikipedia.**


	2. Chapter 2: A Foster Mother

**Chapter 2: A Foster Mother**

**Okay then. I believe you. Since twelve-year-old feral cats are common enough, Snowstorm has suddenly aged to over twenty-five years. That's pretty old. You can't argue with that. Anyway, it's integral to the plot that there's a cat in ThunderClan that is older than all the other cats in the Clans. You'll find out why later in the story. **

**Disclaimer: I still don't own warriors. But I'm pretty darn proud that I own Flowerpaw.**

As Peacheye's labour pains intensified and her yowling grew louder, the four kits watched from outside the nursery. Specklepelt, the medicine cat, had ordered them out in his usual brisk manner. Larksong was in the den, helping them, while Graystorm kept an eye on the kits outside. The Clan milled about, relieved that she was finally having her kits. She'd first moved to the nursery on a false alarm that came with a sudden bloating. Then it had been discovered that she was still seeing her WindClan mate, a gray tom named Duskflight. Then she_ had_ become pregnant. Specklepelt was not the only cat to be annoyed. Moonkit wondered how Peacheye, so scared all the time and unsure of herself, had been bold enough to go out and meet a cat from another Clan. But maybe that was what had made her so scared and unsure of herself all the time.

"It's nearly sunset," meowed Goosekit. "When can we go back inside? I'm tired."

Swiftkit rolled her eyes. "You're the only kit I know who _wants_ to go to bed early. And we can't go back inside until Peacheye finishes kitting. Larksong said."

"Why don't you go get some fresh-kill from the pile?"Graystorm suggested. "You must be hungry."

Swiftkit and Flowerkit ran off to the fresh-kill pile which was growing bigger now that it was newleaf. Buds were on the trees, fascinating Moonkit who had never seen them before. She'd been told they would grow into lush, beautiful green leaves in the past three-and-a-quarter moons. The other two kits selected a large squirrel that had been dropped on the pile by a patrol consisting of Hollyclaw, Adderpaw and Adderpaw's mentor, Badgerpatch.

"That's awfully big for them to finish by themselves," Moonkit remarked. "C'mon Goosekit, let's go join them."

Goosekit shook his head. "I don't like squirrels. The hairs get stuck in your teeth. And they're too chewy. I want milk." He looked imploringly at his mother.

Graystorm sighed. She had a difficult time weaning Goosekit. He'd refused solid food for several days after she had started feeding it to her young kits. He nimbled fresh kill reluctantly and had still suckled once or twice when he could get his mother to be agreeable. Which was too often, Larksong had hinted. "You need to be firm and strong," she told Graystorm. "What's Peacheye learning from you?" Peacheye, still a young cat, and not very assertive, had looked away embarrassed. "I set out and decided to wean my two and never once let them suckle again and look at them," Larksong had said proudly. Moonkit, staring at Larksong's proud face, had decided that she must prove herself as good as Swiftkit and Flowerkit and tackled the mouse meat she had been holding in her paws with gusto. Goosekit had not.

"I'm not ready for solid food yet. My teeth aren't big enough," he said to his mother.

"What happens is that your milk teeth fall out after you're weaned..." his mother tried to explain.

Moonkit went to join the older she-kits. "Is there enough to share?" she asked.

Moonkit, Swiftkit and Flowerkit returned to the nursery after an exciting evening. They'd slipped out to training hollow in their spare moments. No cat had been in the hollow and they'd practiced fighting moves on one another before Swiftkit had thought she'd heard an owl but it had turned out to be Flowerkit, hooting in a perfect imitation. Flowerkit could make a realistic imitation when she wanted to. Swiftkit had hit with her claws out and then Flowerkit had cried and Moonkit had snapped at Swiftkit to apologize. And then they had all made up and returned to the camp before anyone had noticed they were gone, best friends again.

At the entrance to the nursery, their good moods disappeared immediately. Specklepelt was sitting at the entrance with Larksong beside him. "Such a young cat," whispered Larksong.

"We had our differences," whispered Graystorm, as she stroked Goosekit's head with her paw, "But..." Her voice trailed off.

"This is StarClan's punishment for lack of Clan loyalty," hissed Badgerpatch.

"Shut up!" snapped Hollyclaw, cuffing him over the ear. "It could just as easily have happened to any queen!" Badgerpatch snorted and turned away in disgust. Other cats who were sitting near Badgerpatch muttered in disdain. Snowstorm hissed softly at his retreating backside as he marched out the gorse tunnel, his tail swaying in the air.

Dapplestar watched him leave but said nothing. Moonkit wondered why she didn't reprimand him. _Probably because he's such a respected senior warrior._

"What happened," whispered Flowerkit. Larksong reached out to lick her kit's head and pointed a sad paw at the centre of the clearing. Peacheye's body was laid there, cats gathered around it to say their final goodbyes.

Moonkit's breath caught in her throat. She was not well acquainted with death yet, being so young. She had known that Fernstripe had died peacefully in her sleep but Moonkit hadn't personally known the elder very well and it hadn't shocked her much. Now she couldn't believe it. Just that morning Peacheye had been cleaning her pelt of burrs. How could she be dead now?

"The kit survived. Here he is," said Specklepelt, pushing a tiny gray tabby towards her with his paw. The kit opened its little mouth and wailed. Moonkit backed away in bewilderment. Here was the kit whose life had been traded for that of Peacheye.

_Could I have killed my mother? _The thought struck her as a frightening one. She curled up at her mother's feet next to Goosekit and they both whined into her pelt.

"I guess I will be nursing for a bit longer," Graystorm remarked. "Not you!" she said to Goosekit's hopeful look. "You still need to learn to eat solid food. But this kit is young enough to need to nurse. Did Peacheye have time to give him a name?"

Specklepelt looked concerned. "She said to name him...Windkit."

"Oh," Graystorm looked in his eyes but said nothing. "Well..Windkit, it shall be."

"Stonepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to defend this Clan even at the cost of your life?"

"I do."

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. From this day, you will be known as Stonepelt." Dapplestar placed her muzzle on Stonepelt's shoulder and Stonepelt touched noses with his former mentor, Mousetail. Then he walked over to join the newly named Robinwing and Cinderstream and be congratulated by the other cats in the Clan.

"Robinwing! Cinderstream! Stonepelt!" called all the cats in the Clan, kits included.

They were surprised when Dapplestar called out, "There is another ceremony I must perform. Swiftkit, Flowerkit, come here please!"

"Apprentices already!" whispered Moonkit. "Shh," hissed Flowerkit in such a perfect imitation of Graystorm that Moonkit, Goosekit and Windkit were hoarse with giggles. Dapplestar frowned impatiently. "Flowerkit!" Flowerkit hurried after her sister. Swiftkit shot her sister a disgusted look as if she feared she and her sister would be punished by not being made apprentices. Mousetail and Larksong exchanged a worried look about their daughter.

Dapplestar frowned. "Right," she said. "Swiftkit, I already see you have natural talent for hunting and fighting. You have mastered the hunter's crouch already and it continues to improve. Until the day you earn your warrior name, your name will be Swiftpaw. Your mentor will be Ratpelt. Ratpelt, Hustlefoot was your mentor and I expect you to pass on all that he taught you to this young apprentice."

Moonkit's father stepped forward to touch noses with his apprentice. Moonkit felt her soul brimming with love for them both.

"Flowerkit, you are a bold and inquisitive young kit. I hope you will continue to learn quickly and that you will listen to what your mentor tells you. Until you have earned your warrior name, you will be called Flowerpaw. Your mentor will be Sweetbriar. Sweetbriar, you are long overdue for a first apprentice since I was about to give you one when you found out you were expecting your kits, Pinestripe and Poppydawn. You asked not to have an apprentice until they were warriors. I have granted your wish. I expect you to be the best mentor you can be for Flowerpaw."

Flowerpaw touched noses with Sweetbriar, pleased at getting this particular mentor. Moonkit knew that Sweetbriar was one of her favourite cats. She was popular with the kits. But Moonkit knew she wouldn't go easy on Flowerpaw. She could be firm when she needed to be.


	3. Chapter 3: An Ethics Discussion

**I still don't own warriors, Moonflower, Goosefeather or Windflight. But I own Ratpelt and Yellowfur and their other kin. **

**These take a long time to write because I'm trying to do a good job on them. I just had to upload one now though to continue the story. I've got a bunch of later chapters partially on the go. It's crazy. **

**Windflight is one of the characters who isn't given a personality because the Erins are very busy. So I have taken the liberty of giving him a personality as a kit and apprentice. It is not so apparent here but will develop over the course of the series. And I'm expecting him to mature later and become the cat we see-sorry, never see-in Bluestar's Prophecy.**

Chapter 3: An Ethics Discussion

"So what's the deal with Snowstorm?" asked Goosekit, dropping the moss ball he had been holding up in the air using his hind legs alone. Moonkit and Windkit paused in their play wrestling. "Whaddya mean?" asked Windkit.

"I hope you're not being rude," Yellowfur said, hypocritically. The she-cat was sitting on her haunches, her fluffy orange tail wrapped around her legs, obscuring her two brown front paws. "I happen to like Snowstorm. She helped bring up my brother and me. And she once clawed a ShadowClan cat in the back of the head right at a Gathering because he said that we were still behaving like rogues."

Yellowfur was watching and playing with the kits while Graystorm was out to stretch her legs. Most of the other cats were also out of camp. Yellowfur had told Graystorm that she wanted kits of her own someday and Graystorm often left her in charge when she went to join a hunting patrol because she got along well with them and they listened to her...as much as a kit listens to older cats.

Moonkit was almost six moons old now and soon to be apprenticed. She liked her aunt but at times found her to be a bit too much.

"Not corrupting them, are you?" asked Ratpelt, appearing out from behind a bush. Now that it was well into newleaf the thick bushes were easy to hide behind again. Hide-and-seek was fast becoming Moonkit, Goosekit and Windkit's favourite game. Swiftpaw had once played it with them a lot and Moonkit missed her. Swiftpaw was busy all the time now that she was an apprentice and couldnt' spend her whole days with Moonkit anymore. Gaining fight training from Swiftpaw whenever she could take a break from her own training was not the same. Flowerpaw, however, had never been much for hide-and-seek. She was not a cat who hid from other cats easily. She was the kind of cat everybody noticed. Moonkit, however, was good at hiding.

Despite missing her older former denmates she loved the fact that she could go outside for a whole day and be nice and warm. Not that she wasn't tough enough to endure the cold, she assured herself, but she did like to enjoy things when they went well.

"I was hoping my kits would know better than to attack other cats at a Gathering." Ratpelt said.

"And they will, but I want them to know the truth. That sometimes the truce must be broken...although it shouldn't be, of course."

Ratpelt sighed. "The way you talk, they'll think we _are_ still rogues. The warrior code says we can't break the truce."

"Oh, these kits are gonna hear all that about how we can't do such-and-such just because it's part of the warrior code. What about the real reasons these things are forbidden? Like why they harm others? Cause that's the only reason that anything should be forbidden. Because it harms others. Not simply because it has always been forbidden."

Moonkit stared. She had never heard things like this from an older cat before. "I don't see why we have a warrior code then. I know what hurts others."

Ratpelt looked like he was about to rebuke his daughter but Windkit saved her by asking a question of his own. "Yellowfur," said Windkit, quietly. "Why is it wrong to have a father in another Clan?"

Yellowfur and Ratpelt exchanged a serious look.

Moonkit had never seen those two exchange a serious look before. She decided to help them out. She had heard the answer to this question from many older cats in the Clan. "You haven't done anything wrong," she told the younger kit. "It's not your fault your father was a WindClan cat. But it was your mother's fault and she did wrong."

Windkit clawed at the ground. "I hate my name!" he hissed. "Why did she have to name me after my father's Clan? Badgerpatch shakes his head every time he hears my name. And Hustlefoot says it as if he isn't sure what I'm doing here. And Graystorm looks at me like she feels sorry for me! I don't want her to feel sorry for me. I just want to be normal. What did my mother do that was wrong?"

"Well..." Moonkit started. She was annoyed when Ratpelt cut her off urgently. "Windkit, it's against the warrior code and the warrior code governs life around here because..."

"Ratpelt this isn't an ethics discussion we're having," Yellowfur cut off Ratpelt as urgently as Ratpelt had cut off Moonkit. "This is a discussion of what a set of rules says that is simply there. I just can't listen to it any longer."

Ratpelt shook his head at her. "Some days," he muttered. "Some days."

"Ratpelt," asked Moonkit. "You used to be a rogue right? When was that and how did you come here?"

Ratpelt smiled at his daughter. "Moonkit, Yellowfur and I were born in an abandoned shed with three other littermates and one other she-cat besides my mother. I think she was my mother's own littermate but I can't remember. We lived on what rats we could catch and Twoleg rubbish. I chose the name Ratpaw when I came here because my mother always said I looked like one myself when I was stalking them."

"I didn't choose my name," said Yellowfur. "I didn't want to. I wanted to remain Margie at first but I realized I would have to take a warrior name in order to become one of the warriors-which was something I wanted much more badly. Also Margie was the name of the Twoleg kit who our mother's sister used to belong to. Smoke or Mist I think that cat was. I can't remember her name. And I stopped liking Twolegs when they destroyed our shed."

"Why did they do that?" asked Goosekit.

"The first lesson with Twolegs," said Ratpelt. "Is that there is no reason for most of the things they do. At least no reason that we can figure out."

"What's a shed?" asked Windkit. He seemed to have forgotten he was upset about his name in the excitement about the story. He liked stories.

"A kind of smallish Twoleg nest but they don't tend to live there. They usually leave rubbish in them. Maybe it's a storing place, like a fresh kill pile, only they store things they don't want or they store things they never use."

"Sounds mousebrained," said Goosekit. "I'd never store stuff I didn't want. And Specklepelt wouldn't either. He only keeps herbs he needs and wants." Goosekit went back to batting a ball of moss. But Moonkit wanted to hear the rest of the story. Judging from the eager look on his face, she guessed that Windkit did too. "What happened when they destroyed the shed?" she asked Ratpelt.

Ratpelt sighed, "Well, Moonkit, this huge metal ball swung through the air and just chopped the shed in half and we were lying exposed in our nest, me and Yellowfur here and our mother and her sister and our little brother Scotch and sisters Moon and Mouse."

"I remember Scotch had a problem with fleas," said Yellowfur. "Other cats just have a few now and then but he seemed to have an endless supply. He had this thick black and white fur that they seemed to love. He was always giving them to the rest of us too." She sighed. "Funny the things you remember."

"Yes," said Ratpelt. "The things_ you_ remember, Yellowfur."

"Remember my question about Snowstorm? You still haven't answered it!" whined Goosekit.

Moonkit groaned inwardly. She loved her brother but sometimes he acted a few mice short of a full fresh kill pile. And he never listened when it was important and always butted in with a few words of his own.

She turned the conversation back to what mattered. "Did you name me after your sister, Moon?" she asked.

"Answer my question first!" shouted Goosekit jumping up and down before tripping over his own paws and having to lie down. "You look like a.." Windkit started to speak. Moonkit interrupted him, "No, my question first!" She prodded her brother with her paw. He prodded her back.

"I'll answer Goosekit's question. You answer Moonkit, how bout?" said Yellowfur twitching her dark orange tail through the air as she twisted her pale flank and turned her head to look at Moonkit's brother.

"What about me?" Windkit whined. "Who do I listen to?" He mock growled, showing his milk teeth. Moonkit giggled. She knew he was kidding.

Ratpelt did not know. "Windkit, behave yourself!"

Windkit's eyes dulled. "I was only kidding." He plopped down beside Goosekit. Goosekit patted his flank sympathetically.

"Did you name me after her?" Moonkit asked again. She felt herself bounce up and down and then made extra effort to sit still. She wasn't as young as Windkit anymore. Ratpelt had to know that so he would one day take her out of the camp as a special treat. She really thought she was old enough. True, she had been following Swiftpaw quietly to the training hollow occasionally, just to stretch her legs and explore but she wanted to go further and she wanted to be allowed to leave camp.

Ratpelt nodded. "She was sweet and gentle but she was also small and delicate. I was her favourite brother and she liked me to watch out for her. I used to pull her along by her scruff if she was tired after a hard day of hunting even though Mother told me not to. She was silvery-gray, just like you."

"What happened to her?" asked Moonkit.

Ratpelt looked as if he were concerned about telling her this. "The same thing that happened to Scotch and Mouse. We were all rolled up in some kind of Twoleg pelt, rode a distance in a Twoleg monster and were dropped into the river in RiverClan territory. After our mother bled to death on the Thunderpath and her sister was taken in by the Twoleg that threw us in the river."

Moonkit gasped. "That's awful! Twolegs are evil! And your mother's sister just lived with them like that?" She rubbed her nose up against her father's chest. Ratpelt seemed surprised at the gesture but licked her head. She'd never heard him talk about his past before. Now that she'd heard about it, she was shocked.

_What a life my father has led!_

Yellowfur turned her head and said, "Some cats forget what Twolegs as a whole have done to us cats. They just look at the particular Twolegs they live with and think things are okay because their Twolegs seem nice."

"But how did you escape?" asked Windkit with wide eyes.

Yellowfur smiled. "I had already sliced through the bag with my claws when it fell into the river. When it landed in the water, we all tumbled out. Then we tried to swim to safety. I managed to get to shore but I was about a mile up river from Ratpelt here. I ended up in RiverClan territory, actually, although of course I didn't know it was RiverClan territory then."

"How did you find each other?" asked Moonkit. She stepped a little closer to Goosekit. He could be a pain but she would hate to be separated from him even for a short time. She hoped she would never have to be.

"Ratpelt floated to shore on a piece of birch bark. He walked downriver, looking for me and our other littermates. I had been lying in a small den I had made out of a Twoleg cardboard box and a few pieces of driftwood. It wasn't ideal but it was the best I could do with my leg cut open the way it was."

"How did you cut it?" asked Goosekit. Moonkit exchanged glances with Windkit. She didn't even want to think about how Yellowfur had cut it. True, she would be a warrior one day but battle injuries were one thing. Injured kits were quite another.

"She wasn't able to hunt very well and had almost given up hope," Ratpelt said. "And then I found her. She was the only littermate I ever found. I hope the others are alive somewhere." His sad eyes looked in the distance over the kits' heads. Moonkit curled up to Goosekit and for once he didn't protest, but wrapped a paw protectively around her. Windkit whimpered.

"Because I was injured, your father offered to hunt for us both until I was well enough to travel and we could find the rest of our siblings," Yellowfur said. "And this worked for all of two days. Until Ratpelt, then known as Gerry, was..."

"Did you have to go and tell them my former name, Yellowfur," grumbled Ratpelt.

"What happened next?!" Windkit begged to know. "Tell us now!"

"I was found by, amazingly enough, not a RiverClan patrol, but Dapplestar herself, trespassing on RiverClan land," said Ratpelt. "Though she would not have been trespassing, had it not been for one of her warriors having gone missing. She needed to find out where Badgerpatch had gone. Turned out he had been sent to spy on the RiverClan camp by her then deputy Thistlespike. She was really mad about him sending another cat off without telling her later."

"She was really desperate to find him too," Yellowfur put in. "You can always tell the greatness of a leader of any group of cats by how much she cares when one of them is in trouble. I knew then that Dapplestar was a great leader."

"Great enough to take us in," agreed Ratpelt. "Once she found out about my injured littermate and how I had lost the rest of my family. I still hope to find them someday but I live here now. And you, my kits, are the best thing about this Clan."

"I"m back!" Graystorm walked into camp at the head of a hunting patrol and dropped a large fat rabbit on the fresh-kill pile. Cinderstream, who was also in the hunting party, followed with one shrew and two mice dangling from their tails. She grinned at the kits, dropped the prey and said, "Take your pick." Goosekit rolled his eyes. Everyone was going out of their way to remind him that he had been weaned against his will.

"," said Pinestripe stopping to chat as he carried a mouse and two voles to the fresh kill pile. "You've got a point though," said Dapplestar who was returning to camp with him. "Has Graystorm told you much about Peacheye, Windkit?"

"Yyyess," Windkit was surprised to be addressed directly by the ThunderClan leader.

"Good," said Dapplestar with an approving nod.

"What were you saying about Snowstorm?" Moonkit whispered to Goosekit as they followed Graystorm back to their nest.

"She looks at me funny," whispered Goosekit. "It didn't used to bother me but then she caught me on my way to the fresh-kill pile. And she grabbed my head between her front paws. And then she said, 'You're the one.'"

**Next chapter...Moonkit and Goosekit become Moonpaw and Goosepaw. Can anyone guess who their mentors are? Goosepaw's first mentor is not Specklepelt. **


	4. Chapter 4: Apprenticed

**I still wish I owned warriors but don't. **

**Chapter 4: Apprenticed!**

**ThunderClan**

**Leader**: Dapplestar-Tortoiseshell she-cat with white star on her forehead

**Deputy**: Raindrops-blue-gray speckled tom with blue eyes

**Medicine cat**: Specklepelt-brown tabby tom

**Warriors**: Mousetail-gray tom with brown underbelly

Sweetbriar-tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat

Apprentice, Flowerpaw

Hollyclaw-black she-cat with pale yellow eyes

Apprentice, Stormpaw

Badgerpatch-black-and-white tom

Apprentice, Adderpaw

Ratpelt-dark gray-and-brown tom

Apprentice, Swiftpaw

Yellowfur-pale orange she-cat

Larksong-tortoiseshell she-cat with pale green eyes

Mudsplash-brown tom

Apprentice, Goosepaw

Weedwhisker-pale orange tom

Pinestripe-red brown tom with green eyes

Apprentice, Moonpaw

Poppydawn-long-haired dark red she-cat with a bushy tail

Tawnyspots-light gray tabby tom

Fuzzypelt-black tom with fur that sticks out at all angles

Stonepelt-gray tom

Robinwing-small, energetic brown she-cat with ginger patch on her chest

Cinderstream-gray-and-black she-cat

**Apprentices**: Adderpaw-mottled brown tabby tom

Stormpaw-blue-gray tom

Swiftpaw-tabby and white she-cat

Flowerpaw-ginger, black and white she-cat with a fluffy tail

Moonpaw-silvery gray she-cat

Goosepaw-speckled gray tom

**Queens**:

Graystorm-dark gray she-cat with amber eyes (mother of Moonpaw and Goosepaw and foster mother to Windkit)

**Elders**: Hustlefoot-dark brown tabby tom

Snowstorm-once white, now grayish, she-cat, the oldest cat in ThunderClan by far, more than twenty-five years old

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Highrock for a Clan meeting!" Moonkit and Goosekit rushed out of the nursery ahead of their mother and Windkit. They were going to be apprenticed today!

"Hold up!" Ratpelt stepped in front of them. "Let your mother wash you, little ones! You've got to look presentable."

"Why don't you do it then?" teased Graystorm. "You're half responsible for their existence, you know!"

"Right then," said Ratpelt, abashed and set down to cleaning Goosekit with his tongue. Goosekit stifled his protests. Moonkit quickly set to work removing a burr from her tail.

"Goosekit," Dapplestar spoke from Highrock. "Come forward please." Raindrops said from where he sat at the base, "They're clean enough." Hollyclaw and Badgerpatch sat on his right side. They were littermates and fought like rival Clans but at the end of the day they were very close.

Hollyclaw punched Badgerpatch in his side. "Remember when that was us, Badgerpatch? You hid a shrew in the dirtplace tunnel because you were so nervous." Badgerpatch gave a rare smile at the memory.

Goosekit walked forward, trembling slightly. Moonkit watched him encouragingly while Ratpelt gave her some hurried last minute grooming. She looked into the other cats faces. Yellowfur looked ecstatic for her nephew. Cinderstream looked bored. Hustlefoot seemed busy with a flea on his tail and...Snowstorm. Standing beside Hustlefoot and wearing an odd expression as she watched Goosekit. Moonkit shivered. Was he right about her? Was something wrong with Snowstorm? Worse yet, was something wrong with _him_? Moonkit pushed that thought away. Today was a happy day.

Goosekit, until you have earned your warrior name, you will be known as Goosepaw," Dapplestar spoke to the assembled cats. "Mudsplash, you mentored Robinwing and she is already one of the best hunters and fighters in the Clan. I trust you will have the same success with this apprentice." Mudsplash stepped forward to touch noses with Goosepaw.

"Goosepaw! Goosepaw!" Adderpaw called. The other apprentices joined in. Goosepaw smiled and rushed over to join them in front of their den. Moonpaw's ears prickled. Would she receive such a welcome?

"Moonkit," Dapplestar continued. "Come forward please." Graystorm nudged Moonpaw into the centre of the clearing. Moonkit looked up at her leader and saw pride in Dapplestar's eyes. And...something else? Was she worried about something? But when her leader began to speak, Moonkit began to think she'd imagined it.

"Moonkit until you've earned your warrior name, you will be known as Moonpaw. Pinestripe you are more than ready for your first apprentice. You will be mentor to Moonpaw."

The red-brown tom came forward. Moonpaw trembled. She knew he was one of the youngest warriors but already a clever one. She knew he would be a great mentor. As she touched noses with him, he whispered, "I promise to do my best if you will." Moonpaw nodded.

"Moonpaw! Moonpaw!" This time Swiftpaw led the chant. Moonpaw walked over to her brother and her new denmates, remembering to glance over her shoulder at Windkit who looked indignant at being left behind.

"Finally apprentices," squeaked Flowerpaw. "We were tired of waiting for you! Swiftpaw and I have prepared your nests already. C'mon." Not letting them say anything, she padded into the apprentices den. Goosepaw followed but Moonpaw was distracted by Stormpaw and Adderpaw, who were creeping closer to their mentors who were in deep conversation with the deputy at the foot of the Highrock. Seh signalled with her tail for Swiftpaw to follow her as she followed them.

"Look Raindrops, here comes a crowd of apprentices," meowed Hollyclaw tersely. "You all need to work on your stalking skills. Remember in a time with such tension over territory between the Clans, we all need to be strong."

_Was tension over territory high with the other Clans?_ Moonkit wasn't sure it was likely in a season with such abundant prey. Why, Dapplestar was beginning to look plump. And she was Clan leader, it was her duty to look after the other cats.


	5. Chapter 5: Pinestripe's Big Plan

**Have you ever noticed a chain of mentors who prefer fighting to talking things over? Adderfang mentored Thistleclaw, who mentored Tigerclaw, who mentored Darkstripe, who mentored Longtail and Dustpelt. Just food for thought. So Badgerpatch, who was the mentor of Adderfang, is going to be like that too. **

**I don't own anything. I'm not getting paid for this. So don't sue.**

**Chapter 5: Pinestripe's Big Plan**

_Moonpaw was hunting at night. She heard an owl hoot. She saw its shape in the moonlight. She ducked behind a bush but the owl pursued her right through the bush. She climbed a tree at lightning speed but the owl followed her up the tree, its wings beating against the trunk. Moonpaw felt its talons snapping at her tail. But as she alighted on a branch the owl passed right through her as if she weren't there. Moonpaw could now see her brother seated on a branch, tail flicking back and forth in the moonlight, ears laid back against the sky. He leapt into the air and the owl grabbed him in its huge talons. Goosepaw steadied himself in its grasp, expecting it. The owl carried him off. Moonpaw screamed his name over and over again..._

"Moonpaw, Moonpaw, wake up!" Something was grabbing and pulling her tail again. Moonpaw opened her eyes groggily. She sat up and looked at her sleeping brother in the nest beside her and heaved a sigh of relief. Stormpaw, Adderpaw and Swiftpaw's nests were empty, though their scent was still fresh. Sunlight streamed in through the cracks in the den. Flowerpaw was there looking at Moonpaw with concern.

"Nightmare?" the she-cat asked. "That's too bad. And on your first night here. Don't associate the apprentices den with that, okay?"

"Maybe," Moonpaw got shakily to her feet. She didn't really want to discuss her dream. She nuzzled the soundly sleeping Goosepaw gently with her nose. _Thank StarClan it was only a dream. _

"Let him sleep a bit longer," Flowerpaw settled into her nest. "Your mentors decided to let you rest up since it's your first day. And I'm going to be doing the elders' ticks later and replacing their bedding so I talked Sweetbriar into at least letting me sleep in for once."

"Are the others already out?" asked Moonpaw.

"Yes. Swiftpaw and Adderpaw are on the dawn patrol with their mentors and Cinderstream. Stormpaw is out on a hunting patrol," Flowerpaw explained. She opened her jaws in a massive yawn, which was flamboyant like everything about her and stretched out, flicking her tail back and forth.

"It was a dream about Goosepaw being carried off by a large bird," Moonpaw struggled to remember the details. "Would you say it's normal to have dreams about bad things happening to your littermates?"

"I have dreams about Swiftpaw all the time," Flowerpaw settled down in her nest. Even so, she seemed to overflow and to stretch wider than the mossy bed, her tail spilling over where her haunches did not. Moonpaw got the sense that she hadn't really listened. "Chasing me onto WindClan territory for a dare from Adderpaw. Her becoming Clan leader and me getting special permission to follow her around and help her out. At Highstones together. Did you know that Swiftpaw and I get to go there in a few sunrises if we're good? I can't wait."

"I heard," Moonpaw meowed. She didn't mention that she had heard it from Swiftpaw during a secret meeting in the training hollow. Moonpaw had pretended to use the dirtplace tunnel. She'd managed to come back right before Graystorm noticed her absence, so busy had her mother been with removing the burrs from the patch Windkit and Goosekit had wandered into on the edge of camp. But she had been caught by Dapplestar who reminded her that the older cats could smell her scent trail and had been waiting to catch her in the act. The trip to the Moonstone was, in fact, conditional on Swiftpaw's ability to quit sneaking kits out of camp and if they were good, Moonpaw and Goosepaw might very well be included. Dapplestar had been in a generous mood, Moonpaw guessed. She couldn't wait to see beyond even ThunderClan territory and to see the great glowing stones that pulsed with the power of StarClan. It was a real privilege.

"So, what happens on the first day?" asked Moonpaw. "We'll probably get a tour of the territory, right? And maybe a bit of hunting practice."

"Probably," said Flowerpaw. "But be careful. There was almost a battle with ShadowClan the day that Stormpaw and Adderpaw first became apprentices. The dawn patrol brought back rabbit bones with ShadowClan scent on them. Badgerpatch wanted to retaliate by stealing from ShadowClan territory and even he said he hoped they met a rival patrol. But Dapplestar wanted to talk it over. And guess what Adderpaw said?"

"Badgerpatch wanted to steal prey?" asked Moonpaw. "But he's so fierce about defending the warrior code!" She tried to like Badgerpatch. She knew she was supposed to like every cat in her Clan (although Stormpaw and Adderpaw were difficult to like) but she just could not lose the image in her head of Badgerpatch loudly condemning Peacheye for taking a mate outside the Clan and trying to use her as a moral lesson for the apprentices. Only Dapplestar had talked him away from their den. But the terrible thing was that Windkit had been listening nearby. He'd insisted he was fine but had been mopey the rest of the day. Ever since then, Moonpaw could not seem to hear anything Badgerpatch said without feeling contempt for his zeal to uphold the warrior code at any cost. _And now we find out he's hypocritical. _

"Only after other cats break the code. They brought it on themselves," Flowerpaw seemed uninterested in that part of the story. "It turned out to be a really dull tale. Some ShadowClan apprentice just broke the rules to see if he could get away with it. Palestar put the elders in his care for a moon. Anyway Adderpaw had to look after the elders' ticks that day because he mouthed off about how he was supposed to get to explore the territory on his first day."

"They make their apprentices take care of the elders too, then?" asked Moonpaw. "Graystorm and Larksong said I should be grateful I live here because I can count on being looked after better when I'm an elder than I could in ShadowClan."

"They're just using that to make you do more work for them," promised Flowerpaw. "It's the same in every Clan. I'll introduce you to Batpaw in ShadowClan at the next Gathering."

"_If _we get to go," Moonpaw reminded her.

"Don't nag, Moonpaw. Sometimes you seem as uptight as Hustlefoot. Honestly! To listen to you, you'd think you couldn't have any fun without remembering a bad thing could happen later."

"Hey, I'm just trying to be realistic!" Moonpaw protested.

"You don't let yourself look forward to anything!" Flowerpaw rolled her eyes upward. She yawned, showing all her teeth. "And you distracted me from what I _really_ wanted to tell you."

"Wait. What did you want to tell me?"

"Maybe I shouldn't tell you," meowed Flowerpaw. "After all, you don't seem very interested. What do you know about your new mentor?"

Moonpaw had to think about that one. "Well, I know he's Sweetbriar's son and if he's anything like her, he'll be a great mentor. And that he caught a fish once in the stream and was brave enough to eat it." She remembered how bad the fish had smelled that day in camp. Goosekit had complained of the stench for days afterwards.

"True. Both very true," agreed Flowerpaw. She was always agreeable when Sweetbriar was praised and she'd been pretty awestruck by the feet of fish-eating Pinestripe had carried out. "But did you know Raindrops likes him. And Dapplestar listens to Raindrops. He might very well be the next deputy if anything happens to one of them and he's done a good job with you."

"Do we ever know who the next deputy is actually going to be? And isn't Dapplestar only on her third life or something? And Raindrops is going to live for awhile longer isn't he?"

"Well, he needs time to do a good job. I hear Raindrops was Pinestripe's mentor and he taught Pinestripe a lot about being deputy as well as other things."

"He wanted Pinestripe to be the next deputy? And he's grooming him for it?"

"No, but I heard Sweetbriar and Poppydawn talking about how he just might be deputy when Raindrops retires if he does a good job with you."

"Can you tell..." A voice interrupted Moonpaw. "Moonpaw! Goosepaw! Flowerpaw! Time to get up! It's halfway to sunhigh already!"

Flowerpaw parted a couple of branches that had been weaved into place on the roof of the den and poked her nose and one eye through them. "Why so it is," she meowed, in a surprised tone. Moonpaw followed her out of the den, pausing to prod Goosepaw. Goosepaw plopped one front paw over his face in his sleep. With the other one, he poked Moonpaw back. _I'll leave him to the mentors._


End file.
